This invention relates to a brush particularly designed for the cleaning of teeth within the mouth and for the cleansing and stimulation of gums and gum tissue.
It is well known that mouth disease, which includes both tooth decay and diseases of the gums, is very widespread and common in persons of all ages. Surveys covering large groups of people have shown that gum disease accounts for even more tooth loss than does tooth decay. Surveys have shown, also, that gum disorders are quite common even in school children, and that gum disorders are extremely common in persons of the 20 to 30 age group.
It is recognized that a careful program of daily brushing of teeth will go far toward preventing the formation of plaque resulting in tooth decay, providing that the program includes the reaching and cleansing of surfaces of the teeth which are sometimes hard to reach. It is also recognized that many of the gum disorders, which result in over one-half of tooth loss, are best treated by little more than a careful program of mouth hygiene which includes proper daily tooth brushing coupled with massage of the tissues around the teeth. Again the effectiveness of such a program is dependent upon the program having the capacity to remove soft debris from pockets and sulcus between the tooth surface and the adjacent gum tissue. The term "pocket" is generally understood to mean a recess between the tooth surface and inflamed gum tissue which is either already diseased, or is inflamed and highly susceptible to disease; while the term "sulcus" means a recess which exists between the tooth surfaces and healthy gum tissue. Soft debris must be removed from such sulcus in order to prevent them from becoming pockets. It is recognized that 95% of harmful mouth bacteria tend to mass in the area of the gum line.
In the commonly used form of toothbursh, the bristles extend parallel to each other from a flat head, and the tips of the bristles terminate generally in a common plane. Typical bristle diameters are from 0.007 to 0.012 inches. While these types of toothbrushes may be effective for removing plaque or other debris from readily exposed tooth surfaces and gum surfaces, it is only with great difficulty and care that the bristles of such a toothbrush can be made to penetrate, for example, the embrasures between adjacent teeth and effectively clean the proximal or facing surfaces of such teeth. Efforts to achieve this with a brush having bristles which are too stiff, may result in injury to the gum tissue, particularly where such tissue is already diseased, or inflamed and tender.
With such conventional toothbrushes it is substantially impossible to cleanse the pockets and sulcus of soft particles, particularly where such pockets or sulcus are at the lingual or proximal faces of the teeth.
A principal object of this invention is to provide a brush having an improved head form for the effective cleaning and massaging of tooth and gum surfaces, including tooth embrasures and crevices and gum sulcus and pockets.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved brush for teeth and gum surfaces wherein the bristles of the brush head project generally radially from a support core providing for independent functioning of adjacent bristles of the brush head.
Still another object of this invention is to provide an improved brush for cleaning of tooth and gum surfaces wherein the bristles of the brush head project generally radially, and the bristles are soft and flexible to minimize abrasive injury to the gum tissues.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a brush for teeth and gum surfaces, having a brush head and handle configuration to enable ready access to all surfaces, including sulcus and pockets, of the teeth and gums within the mouth.
These objects are accomplished in a brush for teeth and gums, which comprises an elongated handle and a generally flat, round brush head fixed to one end of the handle. The head includes bristles which project outwardly in all directions from a round generally planar core, with the bristles defining opposite generally flat brush faces, parallel with the core plane, and a rounded peripheral surface. The handle includes a major linear portion; and the head is fixed to the handle with its core plane being inclined at an obtuse angle relative to the axis of this handle major linear portion. In more particular form the handle includes a minor linear portion at one end, formed with its axis at an obtuse angle relative to the major linear portion; and with the brush head being fixed to the distal end of the minor linear portion. Still more particularly, a second similar brush head may be fixed to the other end of the handle, with the plane of the second head core being generally perpendicular to the core of the first head.
The novel features and the advantages of the invention, as well as additional objects thereof, will be understood more fully from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.